During one of our Early Years Mathematics lectures, we were asked to share with an activity which included the use of a picture book that could be used in an early years classroom. The activity I have come up with would help children learn ordinal numbers. It includes the children remembering the order of which the animals got on the broom. The teacher would promote the idea of the witch being first on the broom. The cat being second and so on.
This activity could be tackled in many ways:
– As a class – the teacher could have print outs of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th and pictures of the witch and the animals for the children to match up.
– Individually/In pairs – the same idea except on one piece of paper and to be matched up either by drawing lines or colouring the boxes the same colour. Doing this activity in pairs would encourage the children to communicate using the words first, second, third, etc.
The activity can be made more interactive by making a broom and finger puppets (Parker, no date) but I feel that this would be difficult to control and be challenging to support each child individually. Instead a previously made broom and finger puppets would be effective for the teacher to use and explain. If possible one for each table would be beneficial as it could be used as a prop if children are struggling.
By placing the finger puppets on the broom, it would give the teachers the opportunity to assess the children’s understanding of the order. She could ask individual children which animal is 3rd on the broom. By doing it this way, the children are not simply repeating the animals in the same order and will help with recognition.
Reference
Parker, C. (no date) Room on the Broom – Learning Ordinal Numbers. Available at: http://rainydaymum.co.uk/room-on-the-broom-learning-ordinal-numbers/
